Home Office

Asylum: Greece

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing to speed up the assessment for refugees and migrants arriving in Greece.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government continues to work closely with all European partners, including Greece, to address migration issues. The EU-Turkey deal, along with border closures in the Western Balkans, has contributed to a significant reduction in the flow of illegal migrants and loss of life in the Aegean. The UK has played a leading role in supporting Greece and Turkey to implement the EU-Turkey Statement. As part of this we continue our long-running specialist deployments to the EU Commission team in Athens, and are providing further expert support to the European Asylum Support Office in line with the particular needs identified. Our experts interview arriving migrants, act as interpreters, advise on information provision and flow management and support coordination through the EU Commission team in Athens. The presence of UK staff in Greece has supported improvements in procedures and processing of migrants, improved safety and security conditions for migrants in the border hotspots, enabled the identification of and provision of appropriate support to vulnerable migrants, and further protected vulnerable migrants from smuggling, trafficking and exploitation. In addition, we have a Border Force cutter, HMC VALIANT, based in the Aegean and the provision of debriefers, screeners and interpreters to support the Hellenic Coastguard and Frontex Operation Poseidon and tackle Organised Immigration Crime (OIC). Following an urgent request from the Greek government, the UK has also committed to providing additional interpreters to help process the migrant arrivals on the island hotspots.

Refugees: Interviews

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Home Office staff in the UK are directly involved in interviewing applicants for refugee status.

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what training those involved in interviewing applicants for refugee status receive; and what assessment they have made of the adequacy of such training.

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average number of months that immigration interview staff stayed in their roles in 2017.

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was theabsence rate of immigration interview staff in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, and (3) 2017.

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they monitor stress levels of immigration interview staff.

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many immigration interview staff there are in total in the UK; and whether they intend to recruit additional staff for this purpose.

baroness williams of trafford: Decisions on asylum (refugee) claims are made by Decision Makers within the Asylum Intake and Casework Unit and the Home Office has rolling recruitment campaigns to ensure the number of Decision Makers are maintained at a level that allows the Home Office to progress cases in line with service standards.We are committed to delivering an asylum process that is sensitive to the needs of the claimants so that sufficient information can be obtained to facilitate fair and sustainable decisions on asylum claims.All interviewing personnel receive extensive training on interviewing and considering asylum claims, and must follow published Home Office policy guidance when conducting screening and substantive asylum interviews and considering asylum claims.We do not hold information on the time staff spend in the role of Decision Maker however we have a staff retention plan to identify the factors leading to staff attrition. We are aware that the role of asylum decision maker results in staff hearing, often distressing accounts and managers are aware of the need to support staff.

Ministry of Defence

Submarines

lord temple-morris: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incidents of unidentified submarines close to the north west coast of the UK were recorded during (1) 2016, and (2) 2017.

earl howe: The National Maritime Information Centre provides the UK with a comprehensive picture of potential threats to UK maritime security and unified situational awareness of maritime activity in UK and international waters.The Ministry of Defence contributes to Her Majesty's Government's efforts by providing multi-layered capability to deter incursions into territorial waters.This is delivered through a combination of surface ships, submarines and aircraft, alongside close co-ordination and co-operation with other Government Agencies and our allies.I am not prepared to disclose further details as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Cabinet Office

Carillion

lord myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 1 February (HL5031), whether they will now answer the question asked, namely who were the Crown Representatives named for Carillion; what was their period of service; and what was their previous relevant experience.

lord young of cookham: ​Julie Scattergood was the Crown Representative for Carillion from April 2014 to August 2017.We do not publish officials’ CVs. However, we believe she had the necessary qualifications for the appointment.